Stopping at a stop sign should not be a controversy, especially when we’re asked to stop to allow for kids to safely board or leave the bus. Those who pass a school bus illegally should be held accountable to keep kids safe and photo enforcement helps police do that. If you read Paul Mulshine’s June 25 column and talk to Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), however, protecting kids is just not worth the extra tap of the brakes.

Mulshine’s citation of, and Assemblyman O’Scanlon’s partnership with the National Motorists Association is disturbing. This is an organization that advocates for the elimination of zero tolerance laws which penalize minors caught drinking and driving, mandatory seat belt laws and speed bumps.

Assemblyman O’Scanlon opines that “Even if these cameras worked as advertised, it would take 20 years to save a single life.” Holding violators accountable saves lives immediately, not twenty years later, Assemblyman. Even if it took twenty years, as the family members of those killed on our nation’s roads, we would hope that policy makers would like to save them by enforcing the law rather than encouraging others to skirt it.

Frank Hinds founded the Red Means Stop Traffic Safety Alliance after his daughter was killed in an auto accident involving a red light runner. Red Means Stop does not receive funding from Redflex, though an employee from the traffic safety system manufacturer sits on the alliance’s board, along with other like-minded organizations such as AAA Arizona, State Farm Insurance and The Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

SPRINGFIELD–More people are running red lights in Springfield at intersections with red light cameras three months after they were turned off due to a new state law that restricted their use.

The Springfield Police Division saw a 47 percent increase in the red light violation detection rate at the 17 cameras at 10 intersections, according to Sgt. Brett Bauer.

The number of red light detections also rose to more than 5,300 last month, up about 41 percent from May 2014.

The cameras have been turned off. But Redflex, the Springfield’s red light camera vendor, still collects data using the equipment buried in the roadways at those intersection. No citations are issued from that information.

“It’s data collection and that’s it at this point,” Bauer said. “None of the detections are sent to me to review.”

A new law this spring required officers to be present at intersections with red light or speed cameras, which cities have said effectively bans them because it makes them too expensive to use. Springfield has estimated it would have to hire at least 42 officers to run its 17 cameras.

Springfield has collected about $3.4 million in fines from red light cameras since they were installed in 2006. It stands to lose about $250,000 this year if the cameras are shelved for good. Springfield has issued about 77,000 citations since the program started.

City leaders insist the program isn’t about money. In 2007, 90 crashes occurred at the intersections with red light cameras. Last year, that number fell to 44 crashes, a 51 percent reduction.

Recently an accident with injuries occurred at the intersection of North Limestone Street and Home Road, an intersection with a camera.

Data provided to the Traffic Safety Coalition from police departments showed that red light running rose more than 77 percent in Trotwood — the biggest local jump — following the new state law.

Other cities that turned off red light and speeding cameras in recent months also have seen an increase in traffic violations, including West Carrollton (40 percent increase) and Middletown (34 percent increase).

Dayton, Akron and Toledo have kept their cameras functioning. State legislators responded by threatening to dock the cities by subtracting state contributions to their budgets equal to the amount that the cities bring in with ticket revenue.

Judges in Montgomery, Lucas and Summit counties have made rulings supporting the cities by blocking the law, issuing preliminary injunctions. Springfield and Columbus have also challenged the law in court, but have discontinued issuing tickets to avoid confusion.

Clark County Common Pleas Court Judge Douglas Rastatter will likely decide the Springfield case from written motions filed by the city and state, Springfield Law Director Jerry Strozdas said, but there’s no timeline for a decision.

The Traffic Safety Coalition estimates that 250 to 300 communities use speed and red light ticket cameras around the nation. The coalition is managed by Resolute Consulting, a Chicago-based consulting firm. The coalition receives funding from RedFlex Traffic Systems, which supplies the cameras.

The coalition says on its website that its local community partners around the nation include hospitals, police agencies, bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups.

Sue Oberhauser serves as co-chairwoman of the coalition and lives in Somerset, Ohio. She said the jump in violations indicates the cameras serve an important purpose. She and her husband have lobbied on behalf of the ticket cameras since 2005.

Her daughter Sarah, 32, died in 2002 at an intersection just outside of Oxford when a driver ran a red light and hit her vehicle.

“Our daughter was killed by a driver who just didn’t want to stop. We feel a deep and real commitment,” Oberhauser said. “Anything that makes traffic lights safer — it doesn’t make sense to get rid of them.”

State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, sponsored the new state law, saying some tickets wouldn’t be written if an officer were present because cities were “issuing what I call ‘ticky-tacky tickets’ in an effort to bolster revenues for the devices.”

He said last week that he offered a compromise before the bill was passed, asking that legal turns on red lights not be ticketed and that tickets be restricted to residents of the cities where the cameras operate.

“It was the cities’ own intransigence that put them in this pickle,” Seitz said. “They had opportunities to save the program. Their own pigheadedness prevented that from happening. The courts will ultimately determine whether it’s state law or not.”

Municipalities should provide better due process for red light camera violations, said Springfield resident Steve Adams. However, he believes the cameras reduce crashes.

“There are all kinds of different reasons why people can be in the intersection, but it’s not their fault,” Adams said. “I’m kind of for them and I’m kind of against them.”

The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that a former Redflex chief executive officer pleaded guilty to participating in an eight-year bribery and fraud scheme. Officials in Columbus and Cincinnati were said to be involved. Federal court documents included no mention of any links to the Springfield area.

Staying with the story

The Springfield News-Sun has written extensively about red light cameras, including changes to state law and crash rates at intersections with the devices.

Cities that turned off red light and speeding cameras in recent months are seeing an increase in traffic violations, according to newly released data.

Three cities in Ohio including Dayton have defied state law and kept the cameras on, arguing that rights under home rule authority trump state demands that legislators can rewrite the rules on how to issue tickets.

Data provided to the Traffic Safety Coalition from police departments showed that red light running rose 77.5 percent in Trotwood — the biggest local jump — following the state legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 342.

The cameras are not issuing tickets, but they are still recording violations.

Cities said the law made the cameras too expensive to operate because it required the presence of a police officer for tickets to be issued. The law became effective on March 23.

Springfield saw a jump of 47 percent in the month of May compared with May of last year; West Carrollton had a rise of 40 percent, and Middletown rose 34 percent.

Trotwood used 12 cameras to monitor five intersections and one school zone. Two mobile speed cameras have also been idled for now, Police Capt. John Porter said.

Violations jumped from 126.5 per 100,000 vehicles in May of last year to 224 last month.

“Safety will be jeopardized at those intersections and throughout the city because of the way people are driving now,” Porter said. “I believe no enforcement being taken is one of the reasons why we are seeing a spike in violations. People know we are not putting out violations and our systems are shut down. They are driving without regard to safety.”

Dayton receives about $1.7 million in revenue from the cameras.

Dayton, Akron and Toledo have kept the cameras functioning. State legislators responded by threatening to dock the cities by subtracting state contributions to their budgets equal to the amount that the cities bring in with ticket revenue.

Judges in Montgomery, Lucas and Summit counties have made rulings supporting the cities by blocking the law, issuing preliminary injunctions. Columbus has also challenged the law, but has discontinued issuing tickets.

Meanwhile, the legal battle has moved to the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Dayton. Oral arguments are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 28 and attorneys for both the city and Ohio Attorney General’s Office will be present.

The case presents an interesting milestone in the tension between the powers of the state versus local authority. Legal experts predict it will ultimately be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court.

According to Cleveland.com, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas warned state lawmakers earlier this month that the case could spark “a constitutional crisis.”

Douglas urged the Senate Finance Committee to delete the state budget provision that would cut funding to cities that defy the new camera law.

The Traffic Safety Coalition estimates that 250 to 300 communities use speed and red light ticket cameras around the nation. The Coalition is managed by Resolute Consulting, a Chicago-based consulting firm, The coalition receives funding from RedFlex Traffic Systems, which supplies the cameras.

The Coalition said on its website that its local community partners around the nation include hospitals, police agencies, bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups, and others.

Sue Oberhauser, who serves as co-chair of the coalition and lives in Somerset, Ohio, said the jump in violations indicates the cameras serve an important purpose. She and her husband have lobbied on behalf of the ticket cameras since 2005.

She said her daughter Sarah, 32, died in 2002 at an intersection just outside of Oxford when a driver ran a red light and hit her vehicle.

“Our daughter was killed by a driver who just didn’t want to stop. We feel a deep and real commitment,” she said. “Anything that makes traffic lights safer – it doesn’t make sense to get rid of them.”

West Carrollton Police Sgt. David Wessling oversees accident investigations. He attributes a drop in severe traffic accidents to the cameras. “It changes everyone’s driving habits throughout the city, not just at those intersections,” Wessling said.

In 2009, after cameras were installed, West Carrollton had 366 crashes that caused 55 injuries. In 2004, before the cameras were installed, there were 483 crashes and 71 injuries. The figures have declined steadily, he added.

State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, sponsored the state law last year saying some tickets wouldn’t be written if an officer were present because cities were “issuing what I call ‘ticky-tacky tickets’ in an effort to bolster revenues for the devices.”

He said Tuesday that he offered a compromise before the bill was passed, asking that legal turns on red lights not be ticketed and that tickets be restricted to residents of the cities where the cameras operate.

“It was the cities’ own intransigence that put them in this pickle,” Seitz said. “They had opportunities to save the program. Their own pigheadedness prevented that from happening. The courts will ultimately determine whether it’s state law or not.”

Based on figures from May 2014 compared to May 2015. Violations per 100,000 vehicles.

MIAMI VALLEY — A new study says red light violations are up after cities were forced to take down their red light cameras.

The study indicates violations are up in several Ohio cities, including Trotwood.

Trotwood police told ABC 22/FOX 45 that violations are up 77 percent.

Springfield and West Carrollton representatives say more drivers in those cities are running red lights in the last five months.

While some communities have stopped using the traffic cameras because of an earlier court ruling, the City of Dayton has continued using its cameras, after it filed a lawsuit asking to continue using them.

Darris Irvin had heard the stories before she made the right turn on red at the corner of 4th and Hudson streets, the camera flashing behind her as she rushed to drop her daughter at school.

Red-light cameras throughout Ohio were about to go dark. The state legislature had effectively banned them by requiring a police officer to be present at intersections where the cameras are mounted. A few weeks later, the citation arrived in the mail: Irvin had tripped the camera on March 20, just a few days before the new law took effect.

She became the second-to-last person to receive a $95 red-light-camera ticket in Columbus. The last was a Yellow Cab driver. But if Columbus leaders have their way, the cameras will flash again.

“I don’t like the idea,” Irvin said. “I think they should get rid of them.”

Like some other Ohio cities, Columbus has sued the state to bring back the cameras. Judges in Akron, Dayton and Toledo already have granted injunctions to block enforcement of the law that municipalities say infringes on their home-rule authority, but Columbus’ challenge still hasn’t been decided.

The city and the state finished filing their arguments last week, but a Franklin County Common Pleas judge has yet to rule. If Columbus wins, the cameras could return. But the city still must wait to see whether the state legislature approves deducting the amount of fines cities collect from red-light cameras from the money the state sends to them.

“It’s an unprecedented affront to our democratic system of three equal branches of government,” said George Speaks, director of the city’s Department of Public Safety. “The legislature is trying to trump the judiciary.”

The cameras posted at 38 Columbus intersections are now bagged, but the city still wants to collect red-light and speed-camera fines that have gone unpaid since 2006.

Just 34 of the 6,911 tickets the city issued this year before it shut down the cameras were in default as of April 30. The number of tickets dipped at most cameras over the years as drivers became more aware of them.

Irvin paid her fine.

“I didn’t think I had to pay it, but I thought I didn’t want to have any trouble,” she said. “I didn’t think it would be worth fighting, because they would always win.”

Had she not paid, Irvin’s citation would have been added to a stack of 80,532 red-light and speed-camera tickets that have gone unpaid and are in default since 2006, according to a city database. Those tickets total more than $9 million in outstanding fines, many of which the city has already turned over to collections agencies.

Since 2006, the city has made about $10.5 million on tickets issued from red-light cameras and its mobile speed cameras, which primarily are used in school zones and other places children gather.

Many of the unpaid tickets were sent to companies that, under a loophole in state law, do not have to reveal who was driving the vehicle when it triggered a red-light camera, Speaks said.

Avis Rental Car’s parent company, for example, has the most unpaid tickets in the city. Fines for PV Holding Corp. (and several variations on that name) total more than $24,000, city data show. An Avis representative could not be reached for comment.

With corporations shielded, Speaks said the city attorney’s office plans to pursue legal action against people who have more than two outstanding tickets. Names of those who have a single outstanding ticket that is more than 120 days past due are sent to a collections agency.

“They would be able to avoid any such litigation should they pay outstanding claims,” Speaks said.

The city’s camera vendor, Redflex, also has continued to collect data on the number of vehicles that trip pavement sensors when they run red lights. Once Speaks has three months of data, he said he plans to compare numbers with the same time period from last year to see whether red-light running is increasing.

The Traffic Safety Coalition assembled similar data from other Ohio cities where cameras were shut down. Red-light running increased by more than a third in all four cities, including a 77.5 percent jump in Trotwood, in western Ohio near Dayton, the coalition said.

“You’re going from periods where red-light running was decreasing with cameras to now people are back to running red lights,” said Nick Juliano, the coalition’s spokesman.

TRANSCRIPT

RICK KARR: Drivers who run red lights … kill nearly seven hundred people every year nationwide. Sue and Paul Oberhauser refuse to call those crashes “accidents”.

PAUL OBERHAUSER: Most of those are intentionally people think they gonna get away with it and they run the red light. They never think they’re gonna kill a person.

RICK KARR: Their daughter Sarah was killed by a driver who ran a red light in 2002. She was thirty-one years old and a mother of two, a high-school chemistry teacher and basketball coach in Oxford, Ohio. She was on her way to a teacher-training workshop on a Saturday morning when her light turned green.

SUE OBERHAUSER: There was a young man who was 21 years old. And he ran the red light going 55 miles an hour. And he T-boned her car and Sarah was killed instantly.

RICK KARR: The Oberhausers believe there’s a way to prevent crashes like the one that killed their daughter: automated cameras that keep an eye on intersections twenty-four-seven. So even when police aren’t there, drivers think twice before running a light. And the proof that they work, according to the Oberhausers, is a forty-minute drive from their farmhouse … in Ohio’s state capital.

RICK KARR: The City of Columbus installed its first red-light camera at this intersection in 2006. Since then, it’s put cameras at more than three dozen other intersections. And at locations with cameras, right-angle crashes fell 74% between 2005 and 2008.

GEORGE SPEAKS: We have significantly altered driver behavior for the good here in Columbus, Ohio.

RICK KARR: George Speaks is the city’s public safety director — and a red-light camera evangelist.

GEORGE SPEAKS: Do we have less folks trying to beat the yellow and running lights? And the answer to that is, absolutely. We have over seventy percent less citations than we used to.

RICK KARR: Columbus drivers haven’t turned into angels. But when one does run a red light at an intersection with cameras, it’s captured in a twelve-second video clip.

GEORGE SPEAKS: You’ll note that the red light has been red for a number of seconds, prior to the car coming into the intersection. It’s been red now for what, three thousand, four thousand… and the driver, jeopardizing everyone

RICK KARR: The cameras send those videos — and high-resolution photos of the vehicles from behind — to a private contractor. It identifies who owns the car and sends that information back to the Columbus Police Department. There, cops like Lieutenant Brent Mull review the evidence.

BRENT MULL: Is he safe? Right there. I’m going to say he made a safe turn. He did look, he was in control of his vehicle, there was no pedestrians, and no other cross vehicular traffic…. Um, I’m going to reject that. This is for safety. It’s not about revenue for me.

RICK KARR: The private contractor mails citations to drivers — who can pay the ninety five dollar fine … or request a hearing. The contractor processes the fines … and gets to keep about thirty percent.

GEORGE SPEAKS: For– a government entity, it is zero dollars to set up. The company up-fronts all the money. In exchange, they receive a percentage. It allows us as a division of police to concentrate, quite frankly, on– more violent crime.

RICK KARR: Studies of red-light cameras effect on crashes aren’t conclusive. Most evidence shows that they cut down on right angle crashes – which tend to be severe. But some research shows that they may lead to more crashes overall – because drivers who slam on the brakes to avoid running lights may be getting into more rear-end collisions. Either way, a lot of motorists just don’t like traffic cameras.

GEORGE SPEAKS: This is probably the most controversial subject matter I’ve ever dealt with in my 20-plus years of experience in government.

RICK KARR: But automated cameras don’t just watch out for red-light runners — they’re also used to nab Speeders.

GEORGE SPEAKS: Communities, some communities, have quite frankly used these as speed traps.

RICK KARR: Speed cameras need to be calibrated regularly and the video they capture just show cars driving away – which isn’t as convincing as an image of a light that’s red. Columbus has only used Speed cameras in school zones, when a cop is present. But other Ohio municipalities have deployed them more aggressively. Like Elmwood Place, just outside Cincinnati.

There’s one main drag through the town and the police chief has said drivers used to FLY through here. But he didn’t have the officers to issue tickets, So after a couple accidents, the town decided to install some automated speed enforcement cameras. Within a few months, that had led to thousands of citations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

RICK KARR: Michael Allen is a former prosecutor and municipal judge in Cincinnati and the lawyer who represented those drivers.

MICHAEL ALLEN: You know, when somebody challenges a speeding citation, which rarely happens, but if it does, that police officer has to raise his right arm and testify that the device he used, the laser radar was properly calibrated, that he is properly trained, that he is certain that the person that is charged is the person that was driving that vehicle. You don’t have these in the speed camera cases.

RICK KARR: A county judge agreed – he called the cameras “a high-tech game of 3 CARD MONTY… a scam that the motorists can’t win” and ordered Elmwood Place to remove the cameras. And pay back the fines. And generating income from those fines was why the village installed cameras in the first place, according to Allen.

MICHAEL ALLEN: It’s all about revenue. You’re seeing a trend in this country towards policing for profit. And that’s not what law enforcement is supposed to be about.

RICK KARR: We sat down with the Oberhausers. Their daughter was killed in a side-on collision. Could you look at them and make a due process argument to people who are grieved that their adult daughter was killed?

MICHAEL ALLEN: I think I could. I would do it very respectfully, though, You see so many times in the criminal justice system where you have the families– of people that have suffered horrible tragedies, and legislators will rush to change laws because of that. And at the end of the day, those laws actually are counterproductive and contrary to due process.

RICK KARR: In December, Allen watched Governor John Kasich sign a law that effectively bans automatic enforcement cameras. It requires a law enforcement officer to be … “present at the location of the device at all times during the operation of the device…”

Municipalities said … that defeats the purpose of the cameras and makes them too expensive to use. Columbus officials argued that complying with the law would cost the city more than twelve million dollars a year.

It’s one of at least five municipalities that have filed lawsuits arguing that the camera law violates Ohio’s state constitution and should be overturned. Judges in several counties issued stays that allowed cities, like Dayton, to keep using their traffic cameras. But they’ve been turned off in much of the state, including Columbus.

Camera advocates Paul and Sue Oberhauser say they’re sad and disappointed the bill passed and hope Ohio courts overturn it. They’ve continued their fight in other states considering legislation that would curtail automatic enforcement cameras.

We’re at Broad and Murray in Newark, watching cars run the red light. Some speed up to do it, some bang a left and run the red. And look — here’s a two-fer. Are drivers doing this more often because bags now cover the red light cameras — the program’s ended and nobody gets tickets?

“Honestly, no. It’s difficult enough to drive in a crowded city,” said one resident said.

When asked if she thinks more people are running red lights now, another resident said, “Oh, yeah. Yeah. They’re not worrying about the tickets.”

Redflex Traffic Systems covered the Newark cameras after New Jersey lawmakers refused to renew the state’s red light camera pilot program last December. But the system’s still operating, according to the Traffic Safety Coalition’s Nick Juliano.

“The cameras are out there right now and they’re still able to gather the data,” said Juliano.

Sensors embedded in the street gauge traffic speed, relative to the red light cycle. They tally violations, even though there’s no incriminating video. The raw data shows — after cameras got covered — the number of drivers running red lights jumped 315 percent at Broad and Murray, 294 percent at Doremus and Wilson and 243 percent at McCarter and Lafayette compared to the same month with cameras rolling last year.

“Traffic safety cameras change driver behavior,” said Juliano. “Our coalition, including our partners, are in favor of efforts of the legislature to revive the cameras. That’s legislation supported by mayors and their police depth because we see what’s happening now that the cameras have gone dark.”

Juliano’s coalition is funded by red light camera companies, which claim several cities in New Jersey wanted to keep counting violations even after the program officially ended. He says four towns have reported a spike in violations.

The cameras earned $16 million for Newark during the program and $13 million for Reflex. The city says it saved lives and prevented accidents. But red light camera opponent Declan O’Scanlon claims this whole coalition campaign is a sham.

“They will supposedly leave their equipment operating and then essentially makeup numbers to suggest red light running has gone up since the equipment was shut off. We know that is demonstrably false, that does not happen,” said O’Scanlon.

He says it’s a ploy to regain lost revenue by claiming the cameras prevented accidents. The coalition couldn’t provide accident data.